Pierre Lueders still has hunger after 19 years

Pierre Lueders may have mellowed, but he's still a fiery competitor heading into his fifth Olympics in bobsled.

Photograph by: Stuart Gradon
, Calgary Herald

For Edmonton's Pierre Lueders, the momentum that continues to drive him comes from the passion within the man.

Canada's most decorated slider and the pilot of the Canada 2 sled in both the two- and four-man events will head to his fifth Olympics with the Canadian bobsled team in Vancouver and while he feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment from that achievement, it won't be what will drive him to drive his best around the Whistler Sliding Centre course.

It's the desire to win that keeps Lueders keeping on.

"I'm a five-time Olympian and I'm very proud of that," said Lueders, 39, a 19-year veteran of the Canadian bobsled squad. "There's not many people who can make that claim."

He's also a two-time Olympic medallist. Lueders teamed with brakeman Dave MacEachern to win a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, and four years ago in Turin, combined with Lascelles Brown to capture a silver medal in the same event.

Regardless, Lueders will arrive at the Whistler track hungry for more.

"What keeps me going is that I still love to be in my sled, I love the competition, I love to race and I love to go fast," said Lueders, whose resume also includes 88 World Cup medals and eight world championship medals. There's also six overall World Cup titles in the two-man, one overall World Cup title in the four-man, and four combined overall World Cup titles in the Lueders file.

"The hunger and the intensity to compeste and to win is something that is still strong for me."

With Canada's deepest bobsled team to ever attend an Olympiad and the home-ice advantage, all six teams should be contending for medals. But it's a deep sport in talented teams, especially on the men's side, so to bring home two medals would be a solid performance.

Lueders, who first competed in the Winter Games at Lillehammer in 1994, likes the assembly of this Canadian team, especially the addition of Edmonton Eskimos running back Jesse Lumsden as one of the pushers in his sled. Lumsden only started in the bobsled a year ago, but has proven to be a quick learner.

"He's brought such a high level of professionalism to our team," Lueders said of Lumsden. "He's played in some pretty big football games over his career and you can see that he knows how to deal with pressure. He's so calm and cool on race day and he's always prepared."

On Dec. 19, 2007, Lueders piloted the first run down the Whistler Sliding Centre. Turn 7 on the course was nicknamed "Lueders Loop" after he crashed his sled during the track's homologation in March of 2008, the first accident for the Canadian pilot in eight years.

Regardless, Lueders sees nothing but good things coming from competing on home ice.

"I remember talking to members of the U.S. team in 2002 (at Salt Lake City) and they drew tremendous motivation from racing at home," Lueders said. "A lot of the medals their team won there came from that inspiration they drew from that support that led them to race out of their minds.

"I think the same thing will happen in Vancouver. We're going to see great performances from Canadian athletes, some that you would expect, but also from others you've probably never heard of, people who aren't expected to get a medal, but who are going to rise above and turn in the performance of their lives."